Wednesday, January 13, 2010

More GREAT Docs

Young at Heart is a group of seniors that sing contemporary songs with wonderful humor and dedication. The group rehearses year round, participates in all kinds of outside activities together, and perform all over the world. The documentarian hangs out with the group during the rehearsals for their upcoming season and intersperses geriatric rock videos with some great personal interviews. This is the the most fun I have had watching a doc ever. Here is a brief sample of their set list: I Want to Be Sedated, Golden Years, Fix You, and their take on Road to Nowhere is ggggggggggreat! Don't let me mislead you though, as with most docs that are about human relationships, there are some incredibly powerful moments in this piece. My question after watching: "God, why can't we human beings just try to bring happiness to each other all of the time? What would it hurt?"

An hour of watching people fold paper couldn't be more interesting. I know that's not saying much (hehe) but this was an eye opening exploration of two dimensional converted to three dimensional space covering theory, history, and potential future applications of origami.

Powerful doc on prostitution, human trafficking, and youth sexual exploitation. WARNING: THERE WILL BE MOMENTS THAT YOU WILL WANT TO PUNCH YOUR TV IN THE FACE. My advice: don't take it out on your tv, that's not going to help anybody. The doc has segments of home video filmed by pimps on the lookout for new girls, a mother trying to get police cooperation to bring her child home, police footage of a mandatory "john" rehabilitation meeting, interviews and footage from GEMS girls, and interviews with GEMS staffers and founders. This is a take me as I am doc and doesn't pander to the overtly dramatic. In other words the doc is about information, awareness, and dignity not about raising money. Check it out, you may find that you are compelled to take action, do it in a positive way (I know it's tempting but no vigilante justice, k?)

I am in the process of starting a mentoring program at a church in Nashville. I will be working with pre-teen girls starting at age 11. I have been thinking about the possibility of starting this program since last spring when I realized that the little girls in my dance and drama group (volunteer project I started in 2005 at the same church) were not little girls anymore. Through my skills at eavesdropping, I learned that they were dealing with some significant life choices and they were looking to each other for guidance and answers. The church had a church polity based program for pre teens, but the current class was boys only with a male teacher/mentor So I talked to the pastor and we started making plans for a mentoring program for pre-teen girls that focuses on the issues they are facing today. That brings me to the doc A Girl's Life. It isn't super deep, but there are a number of "hmmm" moments in there that I found inspiring. The documentarian hits the tip of the iceberg on body issues, advertising that targets and builds up the insecurities of children, and the historically low prioritizing of girls educational, social and emotional development in general.